Adidas Tango


The Adidas Tango is a successful family and brand of association football balls originally introduced as the Tango Durlast in 1978, specifically for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. Variations of the design had been produced for various competitions including the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, and the football competition of the Summer Olympics. The Tango balls have had different names applied to them to distinguish them in their construction, the competitions they have been used for, and even if they are official match balls or replica balls.
In 2011, Adidas introduced the new Tango 12 ball, but aside from the name there are no particular similarities between the new ball and the old Adidas Tango family.

Tango Durlast

The 1978 Tango Durlast consisted of twenty identical hexagonal panels with 'triads' creating the impression of 12 circles around the pentagons. The Adidas Tango Durlast ball was made of genuine leather with a shiny waterproof plastic coating.

Tango España

The Tango España by Adidas was the official match ball of 1982 FIFA World Cup held in Spain. The Tango España had improved water resistant qualities through its rubberized seams. These proved to be not very durable and resulted in the ball having to be changed several times during some games. This ball was the last genuine leather ball to be used in the World Cup.

Tango variations

YearTango variationCompetitionAdditional information
1978Adidas Tango Durlast1978 FIFA World CupThe ball was initially introduced as the Tango Durlast, however further production models were also branded as Tango River Plate. Replica variations include the Tango Rosario
1980Adidas Tango River PlateUEFA Euro 1980
1982Adidas Tango España1982 FIFA World CupReplica variations include the Tango Barcelona. Other variations include the Tango Mundial, Tango Alicante, Tango Malaga and Tango Indoor
1984Adidas Tango MundialUEFA Euro 1984
1984Adidas Tango Sevilla1984 Summer OlympicsUsed for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles — compared to previous Tango the only addition is the competition logo
1988Adidas Tango EuropaUEFA Euro 1988
1988Adidas Tango Séoul1988 Summer Olympics
2012Adidas Tango 12UEFA Euro 2012New design Adidas Tango, including Adidas Tango Argentina 12, Torfabrik, Comoequa, The Albert, Prime and Adidas Tango 12
2012---

Other variations of the Tango ball seen include: Tango Roma, Tango Napoli, Tango Munich, Tango Scorpion, Tango Mendoza, Tango Gol, Tango Indoor Ball, Tango Tournoi
For the newer family of footballs that are branded Tango please see Adidas Tango 12.

Use in heraldry

Adidas Tango ball is featured on the club badge of Ukrainian club Chornomorets Odessa, as well as Russian football team Mordovia Saransk.